Save Article

The Painful Truth
About Euthanasia

By

Ezekiel J. Emanuel

Updated Jan. 7, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

Mention euthanasia and the image that enters your mind is of a gaunt patient lying in bed, writhing in excruciating pain. It is the image created and reinforced by TV profiles and magazine article like the one about Betty Rollins's mother. It is for that patient--and for the fear that it may one day be you or someone you love--that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow on whether to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide.

Surprisingly, this reflexive association between pain and euthanasia--so...